The Librarian

Episode 25

Aaron dashed through the rain, coat pulled over his head, and boots sloshing in quickly forming puddles. He stopped outside the cabin door and sheltered under the meagre overhang, adjusting his clothes and fixing his crushed hat. The sudden shout from inside had him pressing his ear to the door as he called Harriet's name.

When she didn't answer, he tried the door, finding it open, and pushed his way inside.

"He has a gun, Aaron!"

He stopped short as she screamed his name. "Thomas! What the devil . . .?"

The lone oil lamp cast a valiant light but only created eerie shadows in the small room. Outside, the rain lashed the single window and those same shadows wriggled across the occupants.

"Stay back or I'll shoot her." Wilkes struggled to hold her around the neck as he backed up against the wall.

"Thomas, what are you doing? Let her go. Put down that gun."

"Stay back! You're part of it too. Protecting these women, pretending you're trying to help."

"Thomas, you're not making sense. Put the gun down, and we can talk this out."

"Talking. Yes, that's what you do isn't it? Talk. Clever words to bend and hide the truth—"

A sudden flash of light flooded the room through the window, followed by a deafening crack of thunder; Thomas yelped and stared at the window, his gun hand swinging in that direction. Aaron dove at him and the three of them fell to the floor in a tangle. Harriet banged her head and shoulder on the wall, rolling away with a short cry. Thomas waved his gun around and Aaron blocked it with his leg as the two men wrestled for an advantage.

In a blind panic of flailing arms and legs, Thomas kicked free of the others and ran for the door, throwing it open and tumbling down in the collecting puddles. He lurched to his feet, throwing a last desperate look at the door then plunged into the storm toward town.

Aaron helped Harriet to her feet, assured she was all right, and took off after Thomas. The rain stung against his face and he had to shield his eyes, but he could see him staggering up the middle of the street, and he called out. Thomas stopped, swaying slightly, turning and firing a shot in Aaron's direction.

Relaxing in his office, Sheriff Becker heard the shot and dropped his coffee mug, drawing his gun and rushing out his office door. The rain blinded him momentarily then he saw the figure on the road, waving a gun around, and called out. Thomas spun back in the direction of the voice and fired wildly.

Becker aimed and fired back, seeing the man slip and stumble to one knee on the muddy road, then fall over and roll slowly, toppling into the drainage ditch. Aaron arrived the same time as Becker, and they stood silently looking at Thomas's body, face down in the rising water.

****

Avery sat at his desk staring at the wording he had composed for the telegraph he planned to send the Governor regarding Thomas Wilkes. A long, confused meeting had been held in the hotel dining room after the burial, yielding a lot of puzzled explanations and arguments.

With her departure delayed, once again Harriet had been forced to try and explain what Thomas had said when he attacked her, and Aaron had added his version in support. Sheriff Becker could only say he had called out to the shooter, emphasizing he didn't know who it was in the storm, and was obliged to return fire in self defence. Doc's contribution was his observation about Thomas's headaches after the shooting, saying his actions might have been caused by trauma from his fall and the wound he received.

The Mayor sighed and slumped back in his chair. Two deaths, both due to some kind of mental aberration caused by violent events. Mayhew would never accept that for Wilkes, he thought, the woman, yes, but not Wilkes. That thought made him ponder Harriet Folio's arguments for some kind of treatment in cases like those, and how women were viewed through a smaller window in many aspects of the law. While he had wanted her gone for so long, now that it was a fact, he was regretting the loss to the town.